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Kongamato
, |Reported=1923 }} The kongamato (Kaondé: "broken boats") is a cryptid reported from the Mwinilunga District, the Mutanda River, and the Bangweulu and Jiundu Swamps of northern , as well as parts of . It is also frequently lumped together with the much larger Namibian pterosaur. Described as a dangerous flying animal with a long, toothy beak and batlike wings, it has been identified by cryptozoologists as a possible living pterosaur, or a species of unknown giant bat. Whatever it was, it has been suggested that it may now be extinct, as the Kaondé people of the Jiundu are no longer familiar with it. Description in Guide des Animaux Cachés (2009).]] The kongamato was described to Frank Melland as "like a lizard with membranous wings like a bat". It is said to be a general red colour, with a 4' to 7' wingspan, no feathers, and teeth in its beak. However, Melland wrote than nobody could be sure of these last two points, as "nobody ever saw a kongamato close and lived to tell the tale". The kongamato was greatly feared and believed to be highly aggressive: it was believed to have the power to capsize canoes by raising the water level, or immobilise them by swimming underwater and grabbing their keels. Sometimes it was even reputed to attack, kill and eat people, and, according to another source who contacted Melland, was said to be particularly fond of little fingers, toes, earlobes, and noses, although Melland cast some doubt on this. It was said to live in caves near rivers and swamps. On account of its man-eating and supposed habit of upsetting boats, the kongamato had a "vile reputation," especially amongst the Kaondé people of the Jiundu Swamps, where it was said to cause death simply by being looked upon. Similar stories are told about a wide range of African cryptids. When crossing rivers, some locals around the Jiundu Swamps would carry amulets which they believed would protect them from kongamatos. However, despite the superstition attatched to it, the Kaondé regarded the kongamato not as an unnatural being like a demon, but as an "awful thing, like a man-eating lion or rogue elephant, but infinitely worse". Attestations The kongamato was first mentioned in print by Frank Melland, an English anthropologist and explorer who spent some time amongst the Kaondé people. He dedicated a chapter to the kongamato in his book In Witch-Bound Africa (1923), in which he stated his belief that the kongamato existed until at least recent times, and that it was a reptile. Game warden Charles Pitman seemed to refer to the kongamato, corroborating Melland's testimony, when he wrote in A Game-Warden Takes Stock (1942) that: Sightings 1897 Chief Kapiji Mpanga Mwandwe told Frank Melland that when George Grey visited Rhodesia in 1897, his followers told the chief that Grey had previously shot a kongamato near Fort Jameson (now Chipata) in North-Eastern Rhodesia (now Zambia). However, as noted by Melland, Kapiji must have "got hold of the wrong end of the story," as Grey never mentioned shooting such an animal. However, he was a committed investigator of the Lake Tanganyika monster. Grey's visit to Kapiji is also said to have occurred in 1899 in other sources.Coleman, Francis L. (1971) The Northern Rhodesia Copperbelt, 1899-1962: Technological Development Up to the End of the Central African Federation 1911 Melland was told that two men and two women had been killed by a kongamato in the Mutanda River, near Lufumatunga, in 1911. The river was in flood when the people are said to have died, and Melland felt that the incident proved only the local belief in the kongamato's powers. circa 1920's In the 1920s, a local in South Rhodesia who decided to explore a vast swamp supposed to be the home of demons was attacked and severely injured by "a huge bird of a type that he had never seen before, with a long sharp beak," which left him with a major wound in his chest. When a colonial administrator later showed the man a book of animals, he flicked through the book leisurely until reaching an illustration of a pterosaur, at which point he screamed and fled from the administrator's house. circa 1950's A similar attack is supposed to have occurred in the swamps around Lake Bangweulu in the 1950's. In this case, the injured victim was taken to a hopsital at Fort Rosebery and given some paper and a crayon to draw the animal which had attacked him, whereupon he produced "a silhouette that corresponded precisely with that of a pterodactyl". However, this incident is so similar to the 1920's attack, with only a few minor changes, that Karl Shuker suggests it is simply a confused report of the earlier account. At around the same time, Daily Telegraph correspondent Ian Colvin saw and photographed an animal which was later claimed to have been a pterosaur in the Zambezi Valley. Current status The latest recorded sighting of the kongamato allegedly occurred in the 1950's, or the 1920's if the former report was mistaken. When Brian Irwin trekked through part of the Jiundu Swamp in 1994, he interviewed a large number of locals about the kongamato, and found that the only person who was familiar with the animal (a very old man) had only been told about it in his youth, and had never seen it. This lack of modern knowledge among locals has led to suspicion that the kongamato, if it did exist, is now extinct. Theories Myth Carl Wiman theorised that the entire tradition of the kongamato is simply native Kaondé folklore originating from the locals who assisted in the excavation of the Tendaguru fossil beds in , just before the First World War. However, belief in the kongamato and similar animal seems to predate any palaeontological excavations in Africa. Bernard Heuvelmans also questions how such a legend could have "travelled 1500 km without perceptible alteration," especially at a time with such poor communications (a problem which Wiman noted but did not address); why the Kaondé placed the kongamato in their own Jiundu marshes instead of Tanganyika; and why the legend was not current across all the regions between Jiundu and Tendagaru, through which Wiman supposed the stories had passed. Furthermore, Melland wrote that the Kaondé themselves regarded the kongamato not as an unnatural being like a demon, but as an "awful thing, like a man-eating lion or rogue elephant, but infinitely worse". Although they regarded it with great superstition, it was clear that, to them, it was a real animal which inhabited the marsh. Addressing its alleged supernatural powers, Melland noted that "the sight of such an unusual and fearsome thing would naturally give rise to a belief in supernatural powers". Mistaken identity In the 1950's, there was correspondence in Rhodesian newspapers on the subject of living pterosaurs, and several zoologists, notably Reay Smithers, tried to debunk the idea by suggesting various animals that could explain so-called "living pterosaurs" as mistaken identity.Shuker, Karl P. N. ShukerNature: I THOUGHT I SAW A TERROR SAUR! - DO PREHISTORIC FLYING REPTILES STILL EXIST? karlshuker.blogspot.com The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) was a popular explanation. The shoebill resembles a large, silvery stork, and has an enormous beak and an intimidating wingspan. When in flight, it retracts its head and neck like a heron, and has often been described as prehistoric-looking. However, shoebills do not have any teeth, and are generally shy birds. In addition, its beak is probably the wrong shape to be able to cause any damage to a person by stabbing. Other suggestions included the saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), especially for the subject of Colvin's photograph, a tall bird with a long, sharp beak which could easily cause puncturing wounds, but which does not resemble a pterosaur at all. The Southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri), which has a heavy, curved beak, was also put forward as a candidate. Smithers eventually suggested that the animals were Lord Derby's scaly-tailed squirrels (Anomalurus derbianus) - a small flying animal which does not grow larger than about fifteen inches. Pterosaur When Frank Melland was told about the kongamato, he realised that it sounded very similar the a pterosaur, and when he showed images of various flying animals to the locals, they immediately pointed to the pterosaur, excitedly muttering "kongamato!"Melland, Frank Hulme (1923) In Witchbound Africa A similar identification occurred following the 1920's attack, by a kongamato victim who allegedly ran screaming from a house after seeing a picture of a pterosaur in a book. One of Carl Wiman's criticisms of the pterosaur theory was that the kongamato's alleged canoe-capsizing behaviour is inconsistent with what one would expect of a pterosaur. Heuvelmans, suggesting that the kongamato may be the same animal as the olitiau, theorised that, like the olitiau, perhaps the kongamato dives at men crossing its territory, which might make canoes capsize by frightening the steersmen: "accidents of this kind would not have to happen very often - the men in the water being eventually eaten by crocodiles - for the kongamato's terrible reputation to be firmly established on the survivors' tales". Giant bat Cryptozoologists including Loren Coleman theorise that the kongamato may be an undescribed species of giant bat. The olitiau, which is frequently lumped together with the kongamato, is unambiguously bat-like, and was believed to be a bat by eyewitness Ivan T. Sanderson. Freshwater ray One theory whic had been put forwards (most notably by Dale A. Drinnon) to explain the kongamato and similar "flying reptiles" without supposing the survival of the pterosaurs, but also without totally writing off the reptilian features and long tails of the cryptids, is that they may be unknown freshwater stingrays which are able to jump out of the water like marine manta rays (Manta) and some smaller stingrays. This theory has been extensively criticised by researcher of supposed living pterosaurs Jonathan Whitcomb. Drinnon suggested the same explanation for the Welsh "water leaper" llamhigyn y dwr, a theory which was criticised by Shuker, some of whose arguments may also be relevant to the kongamato-ray theory. Flying lizard Similar cryptids The kongamato has been equated with the olitiau by several authors. Heuvelmans writes that "the general appearance, the size, the long jaws bristling with teeth, the habitat by the water's edge, and the panic it causes among the natives all agree". Additionally, the olitiau's habit of diving at people intruding on its territory could explain the kongamato's reputation for capsizing canoes. It has also been widely connected with the Namibian pterosaur of and the Trappe pterosaur of . Further cryptozoological reading Do you think the exists? If so, what do you think the is? Myth, folklore, hoax, or otherwise made-up Mistaken identity Unknown giant bat Living pterosaur *Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138977525 *Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908 Notes and references Category:Cryptids Category:Africa Category:Zambia Category:Zimbabwe Category:Flying reptiles Category:Theory: Mistaken identity stork Category:Theory: Mistaken identity scaly-tailed squirrel Category:Theory: New bat species Category:Theory: New ray or skate species Category:Theory: Living fossil - Pterosaur Category:No recent sightings Category:Featured